Pacific Rugby Players Welfare organisation cry foul over Tonga's fixture with England
Dan Leo has retweeted the July 2019 letter calling on the chief executive of each of the Six Nations unions to change the international financial model that allows the host team keep 100 per cent of the profit generated from a home fixture outside of the World Cup.
The ex-Samoan international is now CEO of the Pacific Rugby Players Welfare organisation and has been campaigning for a revised profit share model that would provide much-needed funds to tier two nations.
Leo initially contacted administrators such as the RFU’s Bill Sweeney seven months ago and his renewed call has come following the announcement that England will host Tonga next November at Twickenham in a rematch of their recent World Cup fixture in Japan.
The PRPW believes that a ten per cent profit share model in favour of a tier two side being hosted by a tier one country would make a huge difference to the minnows trying to play catch-up on the Test rugby scene.
Leo’s belief is that everyone would be a winner from a revised financial model as it would especially help the Pacific Island rugby community to tackle pressing issues such as player drain, the lack of a viable professional pathway, the reliance on government funding and the issue of depression/suicide resulting from players having to leave home to play professional rugby.
This is a letter we sent July ‘19 to the CEO’s of each of the 6 Nations
If you care about the development of the game & want to help Pacific/Tier 2 nations- please read & share tagging in your home Union #strongertogether pic.twitter.com/PErqZouTdo
— PacificRugbyWelfare (@pacificwelfare) February 29, 2020
The PRPW chief has called on rugby fans to read and share his proposal in the hope that his campaign to develop the sport in the Pacific/tier two nations can be accelerated.
Fans responding to his message have agreed that revenue sharing is the only sure way to enable tier countries to survive.
They have also suggested rugby is approaching a tipping point where the minnow nations should withdraw from touring until the tier one nations properly address the issue.
Today we learned @EnglandRugby will host match VS Tonga in November from which Tonga wont recieve a penny
We also learned 8 players (15-16yrs) from Atele HS in Tonga will fly to Japan this week for rugby/ education opportunities not available at home
Tell us thats not messed up pic.twitter.com/c5rixhGRBZ
— PacificRugbyWelfare (@pacificwelfare) February 27, 2020
RFU turnover on ticket sales alone (let alone sponsorship and hosp) in 18/19 season was £47m. The three Pacific teams collectively received £20m over a 4 year period from World Rugby. That’s £5m per year or £1.66m each per annum. To suggest they receive fair funding is palpable..
— Brett Williams (@BrettWill25) February 28, 2020
Leo also posted that while Tonga won’t receive a penny for playing in next November’s match at a likely sold-out Twickenham, he learned that eight players aged 15 to 16 from Tonga were flying to Japan this week for rugby/educational opportunities not available at home.
“Tell us that is not messed up,” he pleaded.
WATCH: RugbyPass went behind the scenes as Tonga prepared for the 2019 World Cup in Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
While Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
128 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
128 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
128 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
128 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to comments